Felton Hill Longbarrow Long Barrow View all content for Felton Hill Longbarrow

It seems that this is not just your run-of-the-mill long barrow, but actually an example of an Oval Barrow: a rather rarer beast. There are only about 50 in England and this is one of only two in the Avon region. They are very old and originate from the early to middle Neolithic. The description in EH's scheduled monument record (via Magic) says that the large stones (no doubt those in Vulcan's photo) at the northern end of the N-S mound are probably the remains of a burial chamber. (Smaller stones are interpreted as field clearance from the second world war period). Other oval barrows that have been excavated have produced two different types of burials - bodies of adults and children laid directly on the ground before the mound was raised, and those of one or two adults laid in a pit beneath the centre of the mound. It's been discovered that some oval barrows were raised over still earlier monuments. The ditches around the barrows often contain deliberately placed pottery, flintwork and bone too, so it's clear that the spots were a focus for the community over a very long period of time.

Posted by Rhiannon 5th August 2004ce

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